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Old Island Days, "Peace with Tranquility"

This scene, set on Olivia Street on the island of Key West, Florida, shows the typical homes, businesses, and street life found in the cigar-making communities that proliferated there during the second half of the 19th century. The dominant factory in the neighborhood depicted here was the Eduardo H. Gato factory. It, and others, served to make Key West the largest producer of U.S. cigars in 1890.
Since the 1930s, Mario Sanchez (whose family was associated with cigar making) has documented a style of urban life that existed between 1890 and 1910 in this Key West community where he grew up. Using a bas-relief carving technique, Sanchez documented the island's unique culture of mixed white-black-Cuban heritage, specific local characters, distinctive architecture, and a style of urban life now lost.